1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cargo space expanding device of a vehicle and more particularly to a cargo space expanding device of a vehicle to prevent any damage by completely accommodating glass into a mid-gate that can be folded out into the internal side of the vehicle.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In general, a hollow space is offered to load cargoes at a rear part of a vehicle. The vehicle mainly aiming at carrying cargoes or freights as shown in FIG. 1, is made to load bulky matter in the hollow cargo space, if needed, by expanding even to inner space of the vehicle formed by a vehicle glass G and an internally foldable mid-gate 20, so called a rear-panel.
In such a vehicle, parts are generally provided for blocking or expanding the inner space and the cargo space, as shown in FIG. 2, such as a piece of glass G fixed onto a roof panel, holding means 50 provided between the upper edge of the glass G and the roof panel 10 for fixing the glass G, a mid-gate 20 having a hollow space into which sponge or urethane cushioning member 80 are stuffed for inducing the glass G, and rotating means 40 hinged at the bottom part of the mid-gate 20 for fixing and supporting through the body panel T and for getting the mid-gate 20 folded into the inner space of a vehicle.
At this time, the holding means 50 includes a latch assembly 60 having a vertically movable hook accommodated at a hole 61a of a fixing bracket 61 fixed by a fixing member at the glass G and a striker 70 having a hitching bracket 71 coupled with the roof panel 10 by a fixing member 72 for being locked or unlocked with the latch assembly 60.
Furthermore, the latch assembly 60, as shown in FIG. 3, includes a hook 62 in which a hitching chuck 62a having a plurality of vertical slots 62axe2x80x2 is fixed by a spring 63 in the hole 61a of the fixing bracket 61 and a vertically movable knob 62b is added for being vertically moved through a movement slot 61b formed at the lateral side of the fixing bracket 61.
Also, rotating means 40 positioned at the lower part of the mid-gate 20 is constructed with a fixing bracket 41 installed at the body panel T just like in the prior art, and a connection bracket 42 fixed at the inner side of the mid-gate 20 and a hinge pin 43 coupled between brackets 41, 42 for hinging the mid-gate 20 to be folded to the inner side of the vehicle.
Accordingly, after the knob 62b formed at the hook 62 of the latch assembly 60 of the holding means 50 is pulled down to release the hitching chuck 62a of the latch assembly 60 out of the hitching bracket 71 of the striker 70 and insert the glass G into the mid-gate 20, a bulky matter M like an auto-bike is loaded at the trunk and the inner space of a back seat with the mid-gate 20 being pulled and folded into the inner side of the vehicle by the hinge pin 43 of the rotating means 40 as shown in FIG. 5.
However, the holding means 50 assembled at the upper part of the glass G which will be inserted into the inwardly foldable mid-gate 20 is exposed outside as shown in FIG. 4. In other words, the holding means 50 is assembled out of the length Lxe2x80x2 of the glass G, longer than the length L of the mid-gate 20, to be exposed out of the folded mid-gate 20 as shown in FIG. 5. Therefore, the prior art has a disadvantage that a damage may be made by a contact with the matter M when or while it is loaded at the cargo space of the vehicle.
It is an object of the present invention to solve the aforementioned problem and provide a cargo space expanding device of a vehicle which can prevent any damage from being made by a loaded matter by getting the upper part of glass to be completely inserted into a mid-gate.
In order to accomplish the aforementioned object of the present invention, there is provided a cargo space expanding device of a vehicle, the device comprising:
a piece of glass fixed by holding means onto a roof panel; and
a mid-gate hinged by rotating means mounted at a body panel with a hollow part filled with a cushioning member like sponge or urethane foam for getting the glass drawn inside, wherein the holding means comprises pressing means fixed at the glass and manipulating means hinged with the pressing means and coupled with a fixing edge of a grip member mounted at the roof panel to support the upper end of the glass.